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humor. run. jog. walk. wog

Month: September 2016

My son is coming over for breakfast tomorrow. I am planning on making a German pancake with bacon, apple sausage and cider Mimosas. I walked next door to the natural food market to get the bacon and sausage. The meat is organic and nitrate free and from local farms. I walked by the freezer and saw that they had the gelato my husband loves on sale, so I grabbed a pint. I also needed more raw almond butter for my protein shakes. I put every thing down so I can fill my cup up with the freshly ground almonds. Hop over to the register and head on home. A few hours later I am frantically looking for the gelato! I can’t remember if I put it in the fridge or the cabinet instead of the freezer. Turns out I left it on the shelf by the almond butter machine. Hope they found it before it melted all over the floor.

The hubby and I have decided that we need to get our eating back under control. I can’t lose weight, he wants to. So the plan is to eat cereal for dinner. Doing the dishes tonight I realized that we either have too many spoons and bowls or not enough.

Went to the gym twice this week! Got on the treadmill, or as Paula from Never A Dull Bling calls it the ‘dreadmill’ I actually enjoy the treadmill. I got on and started with a walking pace. Several times I bumped it up and jogged! That was huge for me. Tonight I went back to the gym with the same intention. Turned out much better than I thought. I actually ran for half the time on it. Feeling pretty good from that and since I was the ONLY one at the gym I also used the ‘machines’ for some arm and leg strength workout. I am sure I will be super sore on Monday but for a Saturday I am feeling pretty proud of myself.

My heart is hurting for some friends. My friend Paula lost her mother this week. My friend Janice is going to lose her mother shortly. I find that I struggle with dealing with other people’s struggles now. Not that I don’t care and worry and pray for them. I just find that I have a harder time remembering to. I don’t think that is quite right either. I have a hard time getting my brain to wake up and be a thoughtful person.

I messaged a fitness friend of mine that I met via Facebook. I guess friend is a strong word. I found her on YouTube doing Zumba dances that I would learn and use in my classes. then I started stalking her on Facebook, joined her workout group online. She always chats with me like she wants to be my friend. She is a Beach Body Coach so she is trying to get me to sell stuff for her but I think we have connected on a higher level than that. I messaged her about goal setting and new ideas and such. My message to her was just as convoluted as this paragraph trying to explain it.

My hair is another weird phase again. It is finally longer over my ears so I have less wing action going on but have more wild hairs. I am still unsure what I am going to do with it but I have heard that I have two more phases before it is really my hair. So I wait and close my eyes and wear hats often.

Home from my workout, dishes are done and now enjoying a classic movie ‘Woman of the Year’ If only I could find that drive and passion with a little more compassion and sensitivity than Tess.

I have a belly. I have a big belly. I have large and in charge thighs too.Even when I was down to 128 pounds I still had thighs. The thighs rule my closet. The thighs determine what pants/skirt/dress I can wear. The belly determines what shirt/pants I wear.

Funny thing is I am a licensed fitness instructor. Does this mean I am fit? NO. Should it? Probably. Does this mean I have figured out how to eat right? NO. Does it mean I have the tools and knowledge to eat correctly? YES. Do the thighs and belly stop me from moving forward? NO. Does that mean when I get on the scale I don’t cry when I see the number? NO. Does it mean that I know better than to get on the scale? YES.

Tonight I did my Cancercize with Renee B video and wore a crop top. A CROP TOP!! What the hell am I thinking? My belly kept popping out all over the place. I referred to it as my Big Bertha Belly.

Truth is my belly was starting to conform, behave actually. All because I was watching what I eat. What?!?! a fitness instructor admitting that eating right works better and faster than exercise. Sigh, yes it is true BUT you have to keep moving so your body keeps up with the weight loss and you don’t look like a baggy sack of stretchy skin. Besides, working out and moving helps your energy levels and mental stability. Food can’t always do that for you. Bleh it is all about balance. But I digress, we are talking about the belly and thighs….

I often wonder if I am actually doing more harm than good when I do these online workouts with my body shape. My energy levels and strength are lower than I am willing to admit. It is harder to workout and my ten minute Cancercize videos are all I get in on most days. Do I have the right to call myself a fitness instructor with how I look today?

I do you know. I studied and passed the national exams. I went to the training classes and put my time in. I AM a fitness instructor. I AM not perfect. I AM not in the best of shape. I AM trying. I AM a work in progress. I AM what most people are. I do have the right to teach classes and be online and have a Work it Out fitness group. I am real. I am honest. I have bulges. I have low energy. I struggle with a hard workout. I modify all the time. I have food struggles and issues. I have thighs.

Anyway here are some old pictures of me. Hope my friends don’t mind that I shared these. But you can see my thighs and belly in all of them.

your husband can’t sleep in the same room as you because you have to turn the loud fan on in the middle of the night.

you have to change your pjs because you sweat so hard they are now wet and cold

your oncologist office forgot about you altogether and when you call they realize it but then turn it into your fault so they are off the hook

you want to beat all your Fitbit friends and find you can barely hit your preset goals of 10,000 steps per day

work is such hostile environment it stresses you out and you have a dozen hot flashes every day there because of it

you can’t quit your job because you need the insurance because of stupid ass cancer and all it’s lovely and hidden side effects

you want to workout more and eat better so on your last day of debauchery you eat a double hamburger on a Krispy Kreme doughnut bun…and that is all you want to eat forever and ever.

you do really well at eating better. no added sugar no bread. then get so stressed out from work and hot flashes (I’ve mentioned them, right?) that you make yourself a personal chocolate cake in a coffee mug and enjoy every warm chocolate flour sugar filled bite

you are craving melted butter on a warm biscuit but have delusions you are still are making good choices (before the chocolate cake idea) so you bake a sweet potato just to have an excuse for eating melted butter

you plan a party then realize how messy and dirty your house really is

you want to stay up late Friday night so you can hang with your friends for bad movie night. Especially when you found out the bad movie is Mighty Morphing Power Rangers.

made plans in your head to hit the treadmill and it turned into watching Hercules on the new channel that just showed up on your t.v.

you really want revenge on your stupid cancer ruined body, yet you give in each time. It truly makes me mad. I am stronger than this. I can work harder than this. I can eat better than this. I can revenge my body and revenge my health!!!! Bleh!

I just spent the last several days in paradise. Paradise Montana to be exact. The hubby and I took advantage of the long weekend and went to the hot springs. We have been there several times before. There is no cell service unless you are in the bar/casino. There is wifi in the rooms so you can access online things like social media. There are pay phones, yes honest to goodness pay phones if you must make a call. Other than that there is nothing going on. It is just eat, drink and soak in the hot rotten egg smelling water. It was the best!

I think at this point of time in my life it was better than any other time I have been there. I just came off two weeks at work without my boss. It was a very difficult two weeks for me. I used to be better at covering for her. Not so much anymore.

I haven’t had any real vacation time since the diagnosis. It has all been used for recovery from the surgeries. Not really a vacation.

I needed this. I really needed this. The stressful two weeks at work caused major hot flashes. Made me drink every night. I know, I know ‘made me’ is a strong statement. But truth is it was hard to fall asleep without having a drink.

Coming home today I realized things have got to change. Time for a reboot.

Today is the day that I: eat better, move more, make purposeful decisions, find another source of income, win the lottery, rest more, drink less, and develop a sense of fashion.

I know, I know such an inspiring list. I just can’t live like this anymore. I feel I have a purpose and that mundane things are a waste of what precious time I have left on this earth with my family and friends. A purpose to live larger. A purpose to live more peacefully. A purpose to pursue.

Or, it could totally just be the sulfur infused water residing in my ears.

Pay phones at the resort. Do you think anyone even knows how to use them anymore?

Just some of the beautiful views of the area. So beautiful, so peaceful. A great place to let your mind go numb and just enjoy all that is around you that is right.

Okay, what I really want to talk about are hot flashes. My husband calls them heat strokes. When they strike I kind of have to agree with him.

For me I can usually feel when they are coming on. I often feel nauseous, like I ate something bad, then I flush and flash. Jury is still out if it is a good thing to have a warning sign.

I was told that there are triggers to hot flashes and night sweats. I haven’t been able to find a connection yet. EXCEPT for when I sit here on the couch with my laptop on my legs… that is a trigger.

I don’t understand that the moment I lie down in bed I get a horrible hot flash. I also don’t understand that the moment I get up I have a hot flash. Is it the movement? The body adjusting to lying down and standing up?

A blogger that I follow told me she drinks enough wine to sleep through the night sweats. I find this intriguing. Another friend told me that vodka triggers her flashes. Conflicting.

Yesterday I had flashes ALL DAY LONG! I could barely handle it. I was losing my mind. I was also under a bit of stress at work. Does stress trigger them? That is a stressful thought.

I do not know if I will ever adjust to this ‘new normal’ brought on by surgery and chemotherapy.

The other day I had one come on while hubby and I were at the grocery store. He could hear the heavy breathing and discomfort noises I was making. Yes, hot flashes are noisy. He started blowing on me!! Ha ha he was hoping it would help me. It made me laugh but the slimy sweat was still there.